The Suspect
by Rebecca1
Summary: Reid has been suspected of serial murder by the police and his fellow teammates
1. Prologue

"Hotch you know I didn't do this." Reid pleaded, hands waving over the series of crime scene photos that had been scattered before him. The younger man was panicked and frightened, he'd never been in this position before and he'd never for one minute thought his friends, his family, would turn against him. "I didn't do it."

Spencer had been in the interrogation room for over two hours now whilst police officers and his teammates had come in to talk to him or stood behind the one-way mirror searching for 'tells' to give away his being guilty. They were gathering evidence to pin him with and he had nothing at all to suggest he wasn't guilty. It was his word against a bucket load of evidence; well enough for him to be tried as guilty in court and sentenced to life in prison, or the death penalty. Reid knew it would most likely be the latter.

"I'm sorry Reid." Hotch sighed as he left the genius alone once again in the interrogation room.

- . - . - . - . - . - .

**I thought I would try this out and I know it's really rather short but I wanted to set a sort of foundation to a possible story , providing people would be interested .**

**Erm thanks for reading this – let me know what you think ? Maybe ? **

**Thanks :D**


	2. Chapter 1

**Wow I've actually had a really good response to this considering how short it was and cos of the foundation of the story – who would really want Reid to be suspected of being a serial killer ? ;-)**

**Thanks for the reviews , favourites , alerts and hits . I really , really appreciate it :D**

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_**Four days earlier**_

The team barely had time to sit down at their desks before they were beckoned into the conference room by a frantic Garcia. Their tablets, and the paper copy of the file for Reid, had been placed neatly on the desk before each seat. As soon as each member had taken their seats, Penelope started.

"There have been six murders in Las Vegas over the past three months." As she spoke, the six victims faces appeared on the screen. "Each of the males, bar Andy Melton, had been stabbed six times in the torso. Andy, however, had been drugged before being restrained, beaten, stabbed in the, er, genitals and then several times in the torso." The team winced at the evident overkill as they switched the images to that of Andy's destroyed body.

"Well, someone really hated Andy. As personal as it was for the others, this guy. This guy will be the key to finding the UnSub." Morgan stated to the group, glancing at his friend, and registering his pale face. He shrugged it off figuring it was because Reid was going home.

"That's not all. The three women had been raped and shot in the head, execution style, as you so call it. But, Alexa Lisbon, was raped, beaten, stabbed and left to bleed out." Penelope had trouble even uttering the words. Whoever did this was one sick bastard.

"When were Andy and Alexa killed? Do they have any connection?" Prentiss asked the Tech Analyst.

"Andy's body was found on the 11th June in an alleyway, after the bodies of Josh Charles and Adam Jones turned up. They'd been found on the 7th of May and the 28th May." Garcia took a breath and let that news sink in before continuing. As much as she wanted to help the team, she did not like this responsibility. "Alexa was, again found in an alleyway on the 23rd July, after the bodies of Melissa Johnson and Harper Hillman turned up. They were found on the 25th June and the 16th July."

"They were all found on a Monday then." Hotch informed them. Noticing that they hadn't heard any facts, statistics, or in fact anything from the young genius, he looked over to him. "Everything OK Reid?" Everybody's attention was turned to the younger man, who looked ghostly pale.

"Er, yeah, yeah, fine." The man stuttered knowing that it was completely unconvincing but not caring. "Er, when were they supposed to have been killed?"

"Well the coroner said they were killed on the Sunday. They don't know when the bodies were dumped, just that they were found on the Monday in alleyways." Garcia once again supplied.

"Did they know each other? Was there any connection?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, they all went to high school together. Andy and Alexa were high school sweethearts, got married and have- er, had, two children. A girl named Alice and a boy named Aston. Strange name I know." Dave was about to interrupt so the woman quickly continued. "Harper was Alexa's best friend, throughout high school and up until they were killed – both were secretary's for a law firm, Barton's. In fact all of them went to high school together and all still reside, or did, in Las Vegas. They were the popular type – the guys were on the football team, the girls cheerleaders." Derek couldn't put his finger on it but he swore he'd heard the name 'Alexa Lisbon' and 'Harper Hillman' before.

"Wheel's up in thirty." Aaron commanded as he stood up, effectively dismissing them. Giving one last worried glance to Spencer, he left the room.

- . - . - . - . - . - .

**There's that chapter – I really don't want to let anyone down with this story and am so worried I will so I'm gonna have it in small chunks at first I think before I get a full direction of where this is going .**

**I also don't want to make this seem unrealistic so let me know if it is ? Let me know what you think ? If you want ?**

**Anyway , thanks for reading :D**


	3. Chapter 2

**Thought I'd get this part up too as I don't know if I can do it tomorrow**

**Thanks for the reviews , favourites , alerts and hits . I really , really appreciate it :D**

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

Hotch had just picked up his briefcase when one, Dr Spencer Reid barged in unannounced. Frowning at the intrusion, the Unit Chief turned around and glared at the young man.

"I don't want to go on this case. Can I stay here? You have them, you don't need me." Spencer rambled a little too quickly. His face was void of any colour and he seemed a little panicked. The older man was getting increasingly concerned and for a moment did contemplate letting him stay.

"Why?" Aaron ended up asking his subordinate. There had to be a good reason, Reid never voluntarily missed cases.

"I just, going back to Las Vegas and all, it's, they're, I knew them." The genius settled on saying. It was the truth, and for this case he was worried about going back home. He'd begun to receive a bad reputation in town during his teenage years and he was not keen on going back there to talk to the families of the very people he despised.

"Reid, I'm sorry but we need you with us." Hotch replied, noticing the flinch and brief irritation that crossed his face.

"Thankyou _sir." _Spencer snapped as he stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

The plane ride had been fairly uneventful; each member casting worried glances towards their youngest team member. Garcia had been ordered along with the team for this particular case as their team leader thought it'd be quicker to have her with them oppose to having to feed her information via the phone.

"Hello, Detective Burns. I'm Aaron Hotchner. This is our Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia, and agents Morgan, Jareau, Rossi, Prentiss and Dr Sp-"

"Spencer Reid." Detective Burns finished, glaring at the Las Vegas native. "The FBI huh?" It didn't go unnoticed by the team the way both the detective and FBI agent glared at one another. "I'll take you to the conference room we have set up for you guys." Burn's spat as he turned and began walking away, being the first to break eye contact.

Aaron couldn't help the anger that was bubbling just below the surface of his stoic façade – his youngest agent had lied to him. Again.

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**The next chapter is more than likely going to be at least a little bit longer so just bear with me a little bit please ? I've never written anything like this before and don't really know where I'm heading with it – case fic's aren't my strong point , especially not the profiling part so it may take a little while when the part comes . However , there's still a little while to go before that happens so … yeah**

**Anyway , thanks for reading :D**

**Let me know what you think ?**


	4. Chapter 3

**Due to requests , this chapter shall be longer **

**Thanks for all the reviews , alerts , favourites and alerts**

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_**Present Day**_

"Hotch, maybe he didn't do this. He couldn't have, surely." JJ commented, her voice broken, her words holding less conviction than she intended.

"The evidence points to him, add to that the fact that he's told us nothing but lies for the last four days and that he's disappeared several times and-"

"Someone else has gone missing." Detective Arrow, Burns' partner declared, interrupting the Unit Chief. Said detective held up the photograph of the beautiful twenty-five year old brunette before pinning it to the evidence board. "Her name's Felicity James. She's twenty-five. A co-worker, Stephanie, who's classroom is located next to hers, noticed that she hadn't turned up. They tried to contact her but couldn't so they went to her house and it was empty. No-one knows where she is, she hasn't been seen since last night when she didn't turn up to meet a friend, Alicia, at the cinema at 7.30."

"Twenty-five? That doesn't make sense, all the others are older." Prentiss added.

Morgan picked up his phone and speed-dialed Garcia. "Hey baby girl, I need you to look up a Felicity James for me."

"OK, hot stuff I'll call back ASAP." He didn't have time for a retort before she disconnected the call.

Aaron, stared at the woman's picture for a few moments, snatched it off the evidence board and stormed into the interrogation room holding a restless Reid. He slammed the photograph down in front of the genius and watched as his eyes widened.

"Who is she? Where is she?" Hotch shouted to Spencer, getting sick of the wild goose-chase and his subordinate keeping secrets. Right now they couldn't make heads or tails of what little information they had.

"What?" There was a massive amount of hysteria and worry in his voice.

"She's been missing since last night. Where. Is. She. Reid!?" Aaron punctuated every word, losing any amount of patience he had with the younger agent.

"No, she couldn't be. She was fine Hotch." Spencer was pacing and beyond worried, confusing all of the agents who'd just burst into the room. "Let me help, Hotch. I need to find her. I don't care, you can accuse me of anything and everything just let me find her. She needs to be safe. And what about Ash? Ashley, is she OK?" The genuine concern and panic in his voice was enough to make everyone in the room question their conclusions.

"She's at the nursery." Detective Burns supplied from the doorway.

"Please Hotch. Please? I'll tell you anything you wanna know."

"OK. Don't go anywhere without another one of us there and you are not to leave this station. You'll be under supervision at all times. I also want to know how you know her, and who Ashley is, and I want to know now." The Doctor nodded in defeat.

"It's his wife and kid. They've been together since they were fourteen. She got pregnant at sixteen. She was a real bitch-" Detective Burns told them.

"Hey she's not a bitch, far from it. You just always had it out for her, thought it best to blame her for whatever 'crimes' your son committed cos who wouldn't suspect the girl with the bad reputation!" The agent shouted moving dangerously closer to the cop, so much so that Rossi had to hold him back.

"You know nothing about my son!" Morgan winced as the guy's shout echoed in his ear.

"He's a moron, a vandal, an alcoholic, drug addict and he used to kick my ass for fun!" It took the end of that sentence for the father to launch himself at Reid and punch him in the face, blood splashing across the table, leaving several small drops across the tables and the photo's spread across it. In an instant the BAU team saw the genius punch back just as hard, clocking him square in the jaw.

"Stop!" Morgan pushed both away and forced himself between the two.

"Reid, outside." Rossi commanded. "Detective stay here. I wanna talk to you."

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Felicity couldn't think straight, her head was clouded, eyelids heavy. As her head lolled to the side, she groaned at the pain in her head, ribs and neck. She vaguely recalled the last time the man came into the room, releasing her from the restraints and waiting for her to try to escape. As soon as the woman got up, he hit her to knock her back down, proceeding to kick her repeatedly in the stomach and ribs. She was sure some were broken and some cracked, it made it hard to move or even breath. Unfortunately, he then laughed as she lay curled up on the floor groaning and holding her stomach, and injected her. He injected her with Dilaudid. He'd told her she should know what it was like too, she should feel what it was like to be under the influence of a drug. He'd said she should know what her husband felt. However, she refused to give him the satisfaction of begging or pleading with him to stop.

"Ready to have a little fun?" A voice echoed throughout the room, clearing her head and leaving her body frozen with fear. "I'm gonna take your silence as a yes."

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

**Here's the next chapter , I'm sorry that it's not much longer but it will get longer as the story progresses .**

**Let me know what you think ? I'd really appreciate it .**

**Hope you enjoyed this and thanks for reading :D**


	5. Chapter 4

**Another quick update .**

**I don't know if this will last much longer after the case is over – I have an idea for where I want it to go but I think this may end up being maybe 10 chapters as I don't think I'll write anymore after the case is over with the exception of maybe a chapter finishing it up**

**Again , thanks for all the reads , alerts , favourites and reviews**

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_**Three days earlier**_

The team had been in the station for five hours already. None of them had gotten a wink of sleep the previous night, instead opting to pour over the case files and look for the crucial piece of the puzzle they'd missed. It was already midday and they hadn't come up with much. After a five minute argument with Hotch due to Reid not wanting to talk to the victim's families, he and Morgan had gone to the first three crime scenes, Emily and Rossi went to the last three. Neither had found much. Hotch and JJ went to interview the first three victim's families. Once Emily and Derek had gotten back, they interviewed the last three, Rossi and Reid went to the morgue. Again they didn't come up with much.

"Well we know he's meticulous and organised. He didn't leave any evidence at the crime scenes or on the bodies. He knows what he's doing, there are no hesitation marks on the bodies either." Prentiss informed the team, staring at the evidence board as though something that could help solve the case would leap out at her.

"He's angry at them for wronging him in some way although there's no sexual component to the crimes in the men's case." Derek supplied.

"Maybe there's no sexual component to the women's crimes either." Rossi surmised walking to the front of the group and facing them.

"They were raped Rossi." Hotch reminded him impatiently.

"Yeah, I know." Dave retorted. "But, what if it wasn't that he was sexually attracted to them and they didn't notice him, what if it was a power thing. It was to show the women that he had complete control and power over them. It was out of spite, another form of torture." The team contemplated this for a moment, before agreeing with the sentiment.

"But then why not do it to the guys too? What's worse to a man than being violated that way, being humiliated; I mean they were all alpha-males." JJ asked, not interested in knowing the answer but figuring she should ask anyway. It may help the profiler's to find the UnSub and they needed to find him. There was never any excuse to kill someone no matter what had happened to a person in the past.

"Maybe he- wait, Andy was drugged and stabbed in the genitals. Being stabbed in the genitals suggests the UnSub gets a sexual release from this action but maybe it's not. Maybe it's resentment. He's straight and this is the 'rape' for this guy. He may have gotten what the UnSub wanted and he wanted payback. What was the drug?" Hotch asked, trying to find something to go on.

"Dilaudid." Dave told them, confused when he saw the stop-dead looks on his teammates faces. "What?"

The team recovered themselves quickly. "Er, nothing. If the UnSub killed Andy because he had something the UnSub wanted, then maybe it was a family." Morgan informed them, suppressing his irritation on having next to nothing that could help find the UnSub.

"Well, he had a wife and kid." JJ replied and after a minute added, "his wife was Alexa." She pointed to the image on the board as the other's took in what she was saying.

"Erm, guys, where's Reid?" Prentiss asked in concern wondering how they hadn't noticed before. The geographic profile was far from complete, there were no statistics or mumbling or speeches that could help them solve the case.

"Oh, he said Hotch let him have an early lunch and he'd be back in a little while." Jennifer relayed to them in a dismissive tone.

"I authorised no such thing." Aaron told her. "He lied. Again." All of them were shocked at the revelation but were unable to reply as Detective Burns ran up to them declaring that another body had been found.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Jenson Alesons' body was thrown carelessly on his living room floor. His sister had come home to find him there, beaten, bloody, stabbed. Dead. Now the room was swarming with Crime Scene Investigators, attempting to find any form of evidence – fingerprints, a hair fibre, anything. So far they'd had no such look.

"Well, he's escalating, if only a little bit." Morgan said to no-one in particular. The BAU team were getting sick of the UnSub getting ahead of them.

"Maybe he's getting bored of how he was killing and has decided to up the ante. Obviously he found it more fun when the kills were more violent. Maybe going back to his old MO after killing Andy and Alexa just doesn't work for him anymore." Spencer told no one in particular as he walked in, fixing his blue latex gloves on his hands. "Er, sorry, one of the detectives told me where you were." He added once he noticed the puzzled stares he was receiving, and the intense glare from Hotch.

"We need to talk later." Aaron hissed at the younger man as the genius who was now bent over the corpse. The statement was ignored.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

It had been a hard day for the team and they were just about to pack up and leave the police station for the night when Derek's phone went off. The team immediately stopped with the exception of Reid who continued out of the door. Hastily, the agent picked up his phone.

"What's up baby girl?" He gave his usual greeting, praying that she could find him something good that they could use.

"Hey, well. You know all of them went to the same high school, in the same year. So, I went and checked for anyone in their class, and guess who was in said class?"

"Reid." Derek realised, suddenly remembering who Alexa was after it bugging him for the last thirty-eight hours. "He was bullied by them. The bullets found in the victims correspond to Reid's gun." He continued, turning to face the team, all of who were wide-eyed in disbelief.

"Garcia, is there anything else?" Hotch demanded after snatching the phone from the agent.

"Well, sir. All of them remained friends and often went out together. If one was targeted it'd be easy to connect them to one another. All of them went to the same restaurants, bars, clubs; heck they even lived no more than ten minutes away from each other. The Friday before the first victim was found, all of them had gone to a really popular casino on the strip, er, Caesar's Palace Hotel Casino. The Wednesday before Andy was killed, he had to fire three people. Ronney Jel, Ester Mayberry and Shana Lillel." Garcia told him.

"Did any of them know any of the others?" Prentiss asked, the phone now on speaker.

"Yeah, Andy and Alexa used to take them out. All three had children and were happily married. Just after Ronney was fired, his daughter was killed in a car accident. He was driving and got out with minor injuries."

"We'll have to talk to him tomorrow. It's too late now. We should eat and then get some rest, it'll be a long day tomorrow." Aaron gave the mobile back to its respective owner and began to leave, not failing to notice Spencer's absence.

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**Thanks for reading . This really is the longest chapter yet .**

**Let me know what you think , please ? Maybe ?**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey , again :-)**

**I think this is the quickest I've ever updated – I think I've posted a chapter everyday which is good for me**

**Thanks for the reads , reviews , alerts and favourites – I really , really appreciate it :D**

**_(Italics signifies a memory)_  
**

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_**Present Day 2.01pm**_

She held on to the hope that someone was going to save her, that Spencer would be her knight in shining armour, as he always had been, and save her again. At this point, it was all she could hold on to. Ashley was safe, that much she knew. Luckily, the girl had been staying at a friend's house as Felicity had to be in work early the next morning. She hadn't seen Spencer in two days, he hadn't even called and she wondered why. The last time they'd seen each other, he had taken her out for dinner and he hadn't informed her that he wouldn't be able to see her. In fact, he'd told her that he'd see her the following lunchtime – he never did. Felicity had waited and waited, but chalked it up to work. However, she became increasingly concerned when he wouldn't answer his phone and didn't come home that night so she decided to head out to the Police Station. This was yesterday as far as she knew, and needless to say, she never made it to her destination.

She was restrained on a metal table, which didn't help considering she was clad in only her underwear in a considerably cold room. The woman had no idea how long she'd been in the UnSub's grasp, how long she had been on the table or when he was going to be back. He did, however, leave her with the promise that he would be back – he sealed it with a rough, disgusting kiss.

"_Spence, no." Fliss said with all the conviction she could muster, even crossing her arms to show her seriousness. There was no way he could do this for her; it was too much to ask regardless of them being best friends. She'd always gone to him with all of her problems and this time was no exception. He'd always help her find a solution, but this time, this time a solution – especially the one he was suggesting – was out of the question._

"_Yes." He told her stubbornly. They'd been at this for the last five minutes, both in the safe privacy of his bedroom. He had been studying when she had rushed into his bedroom in what he could only describe as a state of urgency. "It's the only way to get through this."_

_"No, it's not. It'll ruin everything and you know it. I can't ask you to do something so drastic, it's not happening." He sighed, running a hand through his hair at the girl's stubbornness, refusing to admit just how right she was. However, he'd made a promise to protect her forever and that's what he intended to do, he would never break that promise just as he didn't break any promise he made._

"_What do you intend to do instead? You're running out of options and you know it."_

The twenty-five year old woman was woken by the creek of a door, telling her that her kidnapper was back. She winced and blinked rapidly as a light was switched on directly above her making the outline of the man visible when she moved her head to the left side. She could hear him moving things but had no idea what it was he was doing until he moved into her line of sight. Adjusting the light so it lit up the length of her navel to the underwire of her bra, he examined the purpling bruises and marks he'd left on her in satisfaction. Softly running a hand down that area, he placed light kisses on each mark and bruise he'd made, murmuring how special she was. She tried hard not to move or make any noise of disapproval that could set him off, instead closing her eyes and attempting to imagine it was Spencer but to no avail.

"You ready to play again, baby?" He asked her, a wicked smile on his face, knowing that she had no choice in the matter. "You know, you're mine for as long as I want you. Your little lover boy has been arrested for all those murders." He laughed at the shocked expression outlined on her face. "Yeah, that's why he hasn't called. How does it feel to know your husband is a killer? A very brutal one too, he raped someone before beating her up, stabbing her and leaving her to bleed. It's despicable isn't it, how did you not see it? Although he really isn't around all that much. So looks like it's just me and you cos he won't be looking for you anytime soon. In fact, he may even get the death sentence what with all that evidence against him. Silly boy, shoulda just told the police where he went when he went to see you and your oh so precious daughter." He backhanded her when he uttered those words in distaste, not liking the way they sounded. "Answer me bitch!" The man screamed at her after a moment's silence. He hated silence, it always screamed the truth.

"He's not a killer, they'll realise that. Someone will realise that I'm missing. It's only a matter of time before they do, and then Spencer will know and they'll all know he's innocent, and then he'll hunt you down and make you pay for what you've done!" The moment she'd said it she regretted it. Another backhand made her cheek sting and before she knew it, she was screaming as a scalpel travelled along a bruise by her ribs, leaving a seeping pool of red in its wake.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

The team watched in amazement as they watched their genius whiz around, desperately trying to work out who the UnSub was and where he was keeping his wife. They'd never seen their co-worker work so fast, so frantically and they had no idea how to help, not wanting to get in his way

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Detective Burns paced the length of the interrogation room as Rossi stood and watched him curiously.

"Detective," he waited for the officer to stop before continuing. "What do you know about the victim? Felicity James, I mean."

The man turned to him and huffed in annoyance. "I know we should be out there looking for her, instead of wasting our time in here! She could die!" He shouted, losing control of his emotions. Sure, he didn't like the girl, she'd caused a lot of trouble for him when she was a teenager – even after she'd had Ashley, but that didn't mean he wanted her to die. Especially not the way the others did, no-one deserved to die like that and he'd be damned if he let anyone else fall victim to this son of a bitch.

"That's what we're trying to do and the longer I'm in here with you, trying to get answers about her, the longer she's with him, and the more likely she is to die. So sit down, shut up and answer my questions." Dave told the man sternly, pulling the chair out for him before taking the opposite seat. "Now let's try this again, tell me what you know about Felicity."

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**Thanks for reading :-) **

**I know I could've done more in regards to the last part with the conversation between Rossi and Detective Burns but I think it'd be better to just have Rossi relay the important information to the team in the next chapter , of course if you'd prefer me to write the full interview instead just tell me .**

**Let me know what you think ? Please ? **

**Thanks again :D**


	7. Chapter 6

**Thanks for the reviews , alerts , favourites and reads :D**

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

_**Two days earlier**_

The BAU Unit Chief was beginning to get impatient at both the UnSub and his subordinate. He'd yet to have that 'discussion' with Reid as he kept avoiding it. Hotch had gone to the younger man's hotel room last night and found it was empty; he always ensured he'd be able to get into any of his agent's rooms. It was 10am and said genius was still not at the station.

"Look, enough talk about Reid, he'll be here." Aaron demanded, receiving the attention of every member of his team. "Right now we need to focus on talking to the three suspects, especially this, er, Ronney Jel." The photographs of the suspects had been pinned on the evidence board earlier that morning, and Garcia had given the team the people's addresses. This case was grating on him and he longed to be home with his son. "Morgan-"

"Reid where've you been?" Derek scolded, the irritation in his voice not lost on his co-worker.

"Er, I was busy. What's new?" Spencer replied somewhat awkwardly, placing his leather satchel by the whiteboard delicately as to not knock it over. He knew it was risky keeping secrets from the team but he wanted to keep his personal and professional life as far apart as possible. He liked to have something light in the dark world he saw, and it meant he could visit his mother on a more regular basis considering he'd been feeling increasingly guilty about not visiting her. His wife had decided to stay in Las Vegas for that reason; so she could visit Diana when Spencer couldn't. The two were close, and apparently spent a lot of their time gossiping about him or talking about Ashley. It only made him love Fliss more, he accepted, even loved his mother when not many people did.

"You're going to visit Ronney Jel, no excuses." Hotch told him sternly, sick of the man's antics, a new wave of determination to lecture Reid overpowering him. It would be done, before the day was over he'd have some answers. Spencer nodded in defeat, picking up his satchel and waiting for Morgan. "Rossi, Prentiss go to Shana Lillel and me and JJ will see Ester Mayberry." The members split into their respective partnerships and left the station, heading to the suspect's houses.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

The house was not what they anticipated. It was well-kept, the garden's grass a healthy green, the various coloured flower's well maintained. The outside of the house was soft white, a light brown door with a stained glass window, showing more flowers, all attached to one black vine. The whole place was beautiful. It reflected something of a happy family opposed to one who'd recently lost their daughter in a car accident. Knocking on the door, they prepared themselves for the conversation ahead. They were after all about to accuse a man of being a serial killer, of course a little more subtly.

"Ma'am." Derek started once a thirty-something year old answered the door, looking much older than she should have. It was evident that she'd been losing sleep due to the bags under her eyes, and she'd lost weight if the way her clothes hung off her was anything to go by. "I'm FBI agent Derek Morgan and this is Doctor Spencer Reid." He introduced them both, holding out his badge as evidence. "Is Ronney home?" The woman didn't even fain surprise, instead just left the door open and shouted the older man.

Being polite, the two agents were offered a drink and something to eat; both declined. The interior was just as well kept as the outside, the furniture floral patterned and comfortable. The whole room screamed homely, cozy. Once it would've been a place for family gatherings, it was the place their daughter took her first steps, played with her dolls, spoke for the first time. It was a happy place and now it was plagued by the good memories which had turned sour. The husband and wife wouldn't even look at each other, only communicating when necessary. The woman, who's name they'd discovered was Anne, refused to stay in the living room longer than necessary but they knew she'd go to her daughter's room, lay on her bed and cry herself to sleep every night. They knew she tortured herself, but they also knew the blame she directed to her husband, who undoubtedly accepted it in a futile attempt to make himself feel more pain; pain he thought he deserved. However, the profiler's knew that it was nobodies fault, it was an accident and because Ronney lived when Lizzie, his daughter, didn't, he was left to live with the consequences. They knew neither of them would re-build their relationship unless they moved on but something told them that the pair were over, they would never be happy with each other again and their relationship would be in vain as they'd get divorced soon.

"Ronney, I'm just going to get straight to the point. You worked for Andy and he fired you. Did you wish him dead?" Reid asked, his tone seemingly fed up and bored. Morgan glared at him.

"Excuse me?" Mr Jel said, clearly offended. It even took his wife by surprise. "Are you accusing me of killing him!?"

"No. No, sir. That's not what we're saying." Derek told him hastily to calm the man down. "We just need to know this stuff so we can rule you out as a suspect. I'm sorry we have to do this but it's important. I assume you were angry that he fired you?" The blonde sat back and sighed, running both hands through his hair in stress.

"Yeah, damn right I was angry. But not angry enough to kill him." The man hissed directly at Reid, his voice full of a dangerous venom. "He had plenty of enemies. Andy wasn't exactly the nicest man around. Old habits die hard I guess."

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked, curiosity getting the better of him. He knew how mean Andy was, in fact that was the only side of him that he had the luxury of knowing. Karma's a bitch – to Spencer, no matter how horrible it was, the angry and dark side of the genius thought that he deserved; that they all deserved, what had happened to them. Even the large part of Reid, the good side, found it hard to sympathise with them – he knew it'd have been horrible and he pitied them and felt bad for them but couldn't shake the feeling that they had it coming, that they had finally gotten a taste of their own medicine, albeit a little bit amplified.

"Whenever we all went out they liked to reminisce about 'the old times' they had back in high school." Spencer involuntarily winced, glad when no-one seemed to notice. "There was one kid whose name came up repeatedly, er, he was younger than them but in their class. His name was, er"

"Spencer." Anne finished for him knowing how bad her husband's memory was. The older agent glanced at his co-worker who had paled and sat deadly still. "They used to laugh at the stuff they did to him, it was sad really. I'll never understand how people could be so cavalier about it and enjoy the pain they inflicted on the poor kid. Some of the stuff they did to him was terrible, inhumane." She tutted at the end of the sentence in pity for the boy she didn't know. She would never understand why the child's mother and father never stepped in to help make it stop, some people's parents just didn't deserve to be parents.

"I don't need your pity." Spencer spat at the couple as he stood up. "I made somethin' of myself. I'm here now and I'm better than them. They're nothing but bullies, sad little bullies, and now they're dead so maybe you should stop talking about _the boy who everyone bullied, the boy everyone laughed at and still do _and start focusing on the matter at hand! I don't care what they laughed about, in fact I don't care about them at all. They are nothing! They never were!" With that, he left

the stunned people in the living room and stormed out of the house, slamming the door afterwards with enough force that, if it had been a glass door, would've broken.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Rossi and Prentiss pulled up and stared up at the block of flats. Wasting no time, they caught the elevator and stopped at the third floor. Soon they were standing outside Shana Lillel's apartment waiting for an answer.

"Excuse me." A frail old woman addressed the two agents. Obviously she was the busy-body type with nothing much else to do with her time being as she could barely walk. "Are you looking for Shana?"

"Yes ma'am." Emily confirmed sharing a quick glance at Rossi. "Do you know where she is?"

The old woman gave them a friendly smile. "She hasn't been home in a couple of days. I don't know where she is, she doesn't usually do this." The agents walked towards her until they were outside the threshold of her apartment.

"Is there anything you can tell us about her?" Dave asked, surprised by the flirtatious wink he received.

"Well, honey, she's a quiet one. Goes to work, comes home, and that's more or less it really. Although she's been down recently, apparently she lost her job, the poor soul. Nobody really knows much about her, keeps to herself."

"Thankyou." Emily said handing the woman her card. "If you think of anything else, or see her, please give us a call." Receiving a nod in return, the two agents turned and left.

"Well that was a bust." Dave sighed once they were in the safety of the elevator.

"Yep, we'll just have to hope the other's have gotten something useful. I'm tired of being behind this son of a bitch." Prentiss replied, the anger she felt seeping into her voice, despite the calm demeanour.

"You and me both, kiddo. You and me both."

- . - . - . - . - . - .- .

**I don't want this chapter to be too long so I'm splitting it into two . I hope that's ok with you guys :S**

**Anyway , thanks for taking the time to read this :D**

**Please review ? Maybe ?**


	8. Chapter 7

**Thanks for the reads , reviews , favourites and alerts – I really do appreciate it :D**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days**

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

Hotch and JJ approached the door of Ester Mayberry's home. It was a small bungalow, with a small garden of flowers. The woman was twenty-eight but the whole atmosphere and image of the house was something that the pair imagined an old couple would live in.

After waiting at the door for a long moment, their knock echoing slightly through the small cover of the front door, the woman herself answered. "Yes?" She asked timidly.

"Ester Mayberry?" Aaron asked, and receiving a small nod, held up his badge. "I'm Aaron Hotchner and this is Jennifer Jareau from the FBI. May we come in?"

Soon they were both seated in the too small living room with a cup of coffee. The furniture was old and worn, the wallpaper peeling off in some places and the television was rather small. It showed that she didn't have much money. "So, why are you here?" Ester asked as she took a seat opposite the two agents, sipping on her cup of tea.

"We're here about Andy Melton." The woman grimaced at the name.

"I didn't kill him if that's what you're implying. And I didn't really know the other dead people that I've seen on the news so I can't say I would want to kill them either." Her voice was thick with disgust as she glared at the couple.

"That's not what we were suggesting. We just wanted to know why he fired you and if you can think of anyone who might want to hurt him; or the others." JJ told her calmly, in the voice she only used to talk to the families of victims. Even though she wasn't a family member or friend and even though she wasn't related or friends with the victims, she was a victim of sorts – she'd been fired and had no money to take care of herself. Jennifer suspected that she barely had the money to pay for the house.

"He fired me because I wouldn't sleep with him. I know he was married but he still liked to sleep around behind her back. Alexa did the same thing, neither of them knew about their partner though. They pretended to be happy when in actual fact both were cheating, lying bastards." She spat the words out; clearly she was still furious over the event. "I said no several times and he didn't like it. Said nobody said no to him, ever. He said I should consider myself lucky that he was asking me to sleep with him, that it was an honour. Shana was fired because she did sleep with Andy and he didn't want it getting around. That way, if she ever told Alexa he could just say she was angry that he fired her. As for Ronney, he was close to Alexa. Andy got jealous easily, and everyone knew that. He couldn't stand any other guy being friends with her unless it was those from high school. She thought Ron was a nice guy and so Andy got rid of him. Simple as. Look, he was a real son of a bitch and a lot of people would of wanted revenge. He could be really mean when he wanted to be."

"What else can you tell us about Alexa? Or any of the other victims?" Hotch asked as JJ continued to scribble down some of the key facts that the woman had just shed light on.

"Alexa was bitchy. If I'm honest, her and Andy were a match made in heaven – both were horrible people. Guess not much had changed since high school, huh. As for the others I only know what I knew about them from high school." She said matter-of-factly.

"Anything you tell us will be helpful." Aaron assured her, sipping at his coffee.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, getting sick of the interview. She just wanted to stay home, wallow in self-pity after this conversation and then go to work. She was a waitress now at a local diner and she hated it. Still it was money she figured and she knew she had to take up anything that was on offer until she could find something better. Unfortunately, after she paid the bills, she practically had nothing else, other than about $50 for groceries which had to last her a month. "They were footballers and cheerleaders. Thought they ruled the school, which I guess they did. They bullied anyone who got in their way or they didn't like the look of. However, they were trend setters and whoever they bullied everyone else bullied. They bullied me, and if you were around when they bullied anyone else, you watched, joined in if invited or laughed along with it. If you didn't then the same thing would happen to you. And it'd be worse." At this point she wasn't looking at them, far too ashamed of herself as the memories flooded her brain. Every day she would hate herself for being bullied and then inflicted that same pain, sometimes even worse, to someone else. What did that make her?

"Can you give us an example? Who did they used to bully that was worse than the way they used to bully anybody else?" JJ asked softly. She'd finished writing now as she flexed her hand as it was cramped due to her ferociously writing for so long.

"A guy, he was so much younger than us. He did nothing to them, to us and yet we." She choked back a sob as she thought of all the brutal things they did. "I would do anything to go back and change it. Anything. He didn't deserve it. It was just that you do anything you can to survive, to stop being bullied yourself. You'd do anything to fit in with them." She pleaded with them to understand but they were giving nothing away, just watching her as the tears streamed down her face. "Some of the things they- we all, the year, the school, whatever. Even the staff sometimes. It was so cruel, no-one ought to go through what he did. I don't know how he got through it, but he did. I don't know what happened to him after high school but I wish I could tell him how sorry I am. Even if he hates me and tells me so, or hurts me. I deserve it and I'd take it as long as he knew how sorry I was."

"Ma'am, what was his name?" Jennifer pushed wanting to get out of here. She now found it difficult to sympathise with the woman, how could someone inflict on someone else what happened to them, knowing what it felt like? She'd never know, she didn't want to know.

"His name was Spencer. Spencer Reid." Ester told them before curling in on herself and crying her heart out. The two agents exchanged glances before thanking her and letting themselves out.

"Poor Spence." JJ whispered as they got into the SUV. She could've cried for her best friend and for the pain that he had been forced to endure, but she didn't. She was now more determined to end the case and forget about this, feeling less sorry for the victims.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

"Where's Reid?" Hotch demanded to know after everyone was back in the station, in their temporary conference room.

"He stormed out during the interview after Ronney and his wife spoke of him and how Andy and his friends would go out and laugh about their time in high school. Laugh about what they did to him when he was younger. His wife felt sorry for Reid and so he flipped and had a go at him – saying that Andy and his friends were nothing and that they never were." Morgan informed the team who were all stood around, coffee in hand.

"Yeah, apparently everyone used to bully him and that whoever Andy and his friends bullied, everyone else bullied. The woman, Ester, used to get bullied and she said that when Andy and his friends bullied someone else, she, and everyone else that they bullied joined in in an effort to get them to stop bullying them. Apparently, Spencer was the primary target and she bullied him because they did. She told us that if you didn't join in, then they would bully you more." Everyone had looks of disgrace, anger and pity on their faces.

"Poor Reid." Prentiss said to no-one in particular.

"Guys, Ronney and Annie Jel have been shot in their home." Detective Burns' popped his head through the crack in the door and told them before leaving.

"As much as I hate to say it, has anyone else noticed that whenever Reid is gone another person is killed or abducted?" Rossi asked, a pained expression on his face. The other's stood in silence for a moment as they allowed that realisation to sink in as it dawned on them that he was right.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Hotch had burst into Reid's room at 7pm that night having not seen him for the remainder of the day. Another person, Ester, had been taken and the seed of suspicion had been planted in each of their heads so Hotch was determined to disprove it. Luckily the younger agent was in his room, looking none too happy to see him.

"What do you want Hotch?" Reid spat, standing defensively at the corner of the bed.

"You were supposed to come back to the station to work." Aaron told him calmly. The Jel's had been shot execution style in the head and the moment they got back to the station they'd given the team the profile.

"_This guy is white and in his mid to late twenties. He's above average intelligence and is organised and methodical." Morgan started._

"_He likes to spend time with his victims to torture them and we think this is to show his power and dominance over them. They've all wronged him in some way, maybe made him feel less than he is and this is his way of getting revenge." Rossi explained, glancing at a stern faced Hotch._

"_Although the women were raped, it is not a sex act as such but a form of dominance over them. He is taking from them what was taken from him in a sense – his innocence. All of this, the rape, stabbing Andy in the genitals – which is a form of rape for this UnSub, is to show he has complete control over them. He revels in the fact that he can do whatever he wants to them and that their lives are in his hands. This time it's them that are begging him to stop. It's them that fear him and not the other way around. This is what gets him off. He likes them to know he's going to kill them, probably tells them over and over again as a form of psychological torture." Hotch continued._

"_He is rapidly evolving. Mr and Mrs Jel do not fit the pattern of these murders and he killed them quickly. However, at the same time he is still taking, torturing and killing people who he has perceived has wronged him in one way or another. At this point, due to the murder of Mr and Mrs Jel, you should all be extra cautious as he's just become unpredictable." Emily informed the officers in front of them all listening intently or scribbling down some notes._

"_If you get in his way he will try to kill you or the victim so don't go anywhere alone and do not try to confront the UnSub if you find him. Instead, as hard as it may be, sympathise and tell him that you understand, and that it was the right thing to do. Tell him that it's OK, but do not try to touch him in any way. If you suspect or know the UnSub then call for back-up immediately even if you think it may be a false alarm." Morgan added._

"_That's all for now. Thank you." Hotch concluded as the team turned their backs to the officers who began shuffling away, brains processing this new information._

"_Let's hope we catch this guy before anyone else dies." Dave commented and the other's murmured their agreements._

"Yeah well, you had them. You didn't need me." Spencer retorted harshly. His wife had told him the same thing, that he should've gone back. After he'd caused that scene at the Jel household he went straight home. Ashley was out with Fliss' best friend and so he found her and kissed her roughly. He told her not to speak and so they didn't. She just let him fuck her several times until all of his anger had disappeared. Only then did they talk it out and he had her tell him that he ought to go back to the station and apologise to Morgan for losing it and embarrassing them. Instead, he'd stayed with her until 6pm so he could be with Ash and Felicity for a little while before heading back to the hotel.

"That's not good enough." Hotch's voice was dangerously calm and, had it been anywhere else, it would have intimidated the younger man but not now. "Where do you go when you sneak off?"

"None of your business!" The genius yelled, stalking closer to his unit chief. "I don't have to tell you where I go whenever I do. It's not got anything to do with you. I told you I didn't want to be here and you forced me to come. Deal with it." He was now in Hotch's face and the older man had the urge to hit him right there.

"It is my business. As your Unit Chief, with us being on a case we need you. The geographical profile isn't even complete and we can't find this guy. Have you noticed that whenever you're missing someone either turns up dead or is abducted? Where were you Reid? All you've done is lie to me and everyone else since we got here."

"You actually suspect me? Of murder?" Spencer laughed humourlessly. "Get out!" Without another word the Unit Chief did just that.

"Garcia." Aaron called the Tech Analyst the moment he got back to his room. "Get me everything you can on Reid. Where he goes, what he does, his money transactions. I want anything and everything." The man was tired of his subordinates antics and needed to find out one way or another and seeing as the younger man wasn't willing to comply he'd find out this way. The way Reid had acted didn't make him seem any less guilty, in fact it made him feel more so. This was further reinforced by the fact that he'd just heard Reid's door slam shut.

"But sir. This is Reid. What's he done?" Penelope asked, her voice full of worry and fear.

"No questions. Just do it Garcia and get back to me as soon as possible. This is your priority."

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

**I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written for any of my fics and I'm sorry if it got too long winded or boring – I didn't intend it to be . In future I can split it up into smaller parts like I did with previous chapters if you'd like ?**

**Anyway , thanks for reading this and I hope it was worth it :-) **

**Please let me know what you think ?**

**Thanks again :D**


	9. Chapter 8

**Here's another chapter**

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

_**Present Day 3pm**_

_Felicity and Spencer were waiting outside the doctor's office ready for the first scan of her pregnancy. To say she was terrified was an understatement._

"_Hey, it's gonna be fine." Spencer whispered to her, grabbing hold of her hand and kissing her forehead. "It's ok."_

"_Spence, I can't ask you to do this." She told him, pleading, and due to her recent amplified hormones, on the verge of tears. She had often wondered how she'd been so lucky as to have a friend like him, someone so willing to listen to her and stay around her. Yet he had for eight years now. They'd met when they were seven after he caught her making a daisy chain and asked, rather eagerly yet shyly, if she could teach him how to make them. They'd been best friends ever since. _

"_Felicity James?" A nurse called and the two best friends stood up and made their way over to the dark skinned woman, whose nametag told them her name was Anita. "Right this way." She led them through to the examination room after giving the pair a judgemental look of disgust. Fliss pulled her tongue out behind the woman's back causing Spencer to laugh, the woman turning back to glare at them. "The doctor will be with you in a moment."_

_It didn't take long before a brunette woman in her early thirties walked in and smiled kindly at them. "Hi, I'm Doctor Fields, or you can call me Jessica. I'm going to be your doctor throughout your pregnancy." She told them as she sat on a stool at the opposite side of the exam bed from the young genius. "You must be the father?" _

"_Yeah, I am." He replied quickly before Fliss had a chance to answer, receiving a glare from said girl._

"_Ok, well let's take a look shall we."_

"Wakey, wakey, sleepy head." A voice interrupted the dream. "Time to have some fun." He began slapping her until he was satisfied that she was awake. "That's better." His hand began to move down from her neck, slowly down to her breasts where he stopped.

"Stop." Fliss told him. She was fed up of his games but still hung on to the thin shred of hope that Spencer would find her and save her from this hell. "Do anything to me just not that." He hit her in the stomach; making one of the cuts he'd made earlier bleed as she moaned in pain.

"Don't tell me what to do you bitch. I tell you what to do and I'll do whatever I want to you." He looked down at the blood and grimaced. "See look what you did." He picked up the sewing needle and some string and began to sew the wound up.

"There we go, good as new." He announced with a smile as he finished, admiring his handy work. He'd cleaned the blood off her carefully before scolding her for not being careful. He fingered his handy work before moving his hand downwards, and despite her protests and futile attempts, and slipping it inside her panties. She writhed under his touch in discomfort and an attempt to get him to stop, but unlike the other's didn't beg. It annoyed him more than it should have.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

_**One Day Earlier**_

"Thanks Garcia." Aaron told her. Finally, he had gotten the information he'd told the woman to get him last night. They all stood in the conference room – minus Reid who had gone to get some coffee.

"What's up?" Rossi asked noticing the even deeper frown gracing his friends face.

"Last night, I asked Garcia to get everything she could on Reid." He started and seeing the shocked faces and Morgan about to interrupt he continued. "During the time of each of the murders he was here. He left the Sunday evening before the bodies were discovered. He also withdraws $500 before each visit and none of said money goes back into his account. A week before Andy was killed, the two got into a fight. They were both kicked out of the bar, Andy had a broken nose and fractured cheek bone and Reid had a fractured rib and sprained his left hand. Everybody who's been killed so far were there based on their debit card transactions. Reid also has a marriage licence but the name on it is Eliza Jones. She doesn't exist, other than the name on the marriage licence that is. There's no house or address listed for him here. He refused to tell me where he goes off to and Garcia can't find anything on it either." Hotch told them.

"Are we really accusing Reid of serial murder here?" Prentiss asked. "I mean maybe he's not and it's just some crazy coincidence." The doubt on her face and worry in her voice told them all they needed to know.

"He has been angrier recently and he said they were nothing. He would know exactly what to do and he was pissed at Ronney and Annie and the other's did bully the heck out of him. That's one heck of a motive." Rossi pointed out.

"The gun used to kill them was the same type of gun Reid uses." Morgan supplied, sighing. "And a lot of the profile could fit him I guess."

"Ester Mayberry has been beaten and stabbed to death." Detective Arrow waltzed in and told them. He saw the glances each member of the team exchanged and smiled as he walked away.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Derek bent down to examine the woman's battered body.

"We need to get her body to the morgue as soon as possible, I have a feeling we'll find drugs in her system. Burns just called and apparently Dilaudid was found in the Jels' system." Hotch informed Morgan and Prentiss. Looking at the crease in Ester's arm, he noticed what appeared to be a needle mark and pointed it out to Hotch.

"Dilaudid, the gunshot wound, oh and, hey there's a DVD here." Prentiss said, putting it into the DVD Player and switching on the tv. The trio stood there and watched, horrified as the footage of Reid's abuse filled the screen. By the end of the DVD some words came up; 'They were nothing. They will never be anything. They got what they deserved. Justice is served.'

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

As soon as Reid had gotten into the station he'd practically been dragged into the interrogation room by Aaron and Derek as the other's watched, not one of them saying anything. The doubt of their colleague was growing considerably and it was consuming their better judgement. Their instincts told them it wasn't him but the evidence told them it was. Unfortunately, they had to go with the evidence and it didn't help the young genius that the team were beginning to believe he was guilty.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

_**Present Day 3.08pm**_

The geographic profile had been finished whilst the remainder of the team worked on narrowing down everyone in the town. They'd gotten it down to thirteen people; including Reid, but it was still too many and they couldn't think of how else to narrow it down. It hadn't escaped their attention that the younger man was utterly panicked and had not spoken to them unless he had to. He was now looking through the files of all of the suspects, whilst narrowing them down based on the comfort zone of the UnSub.

"There, it's down to three people. Not including me." He gave a pointed look to Hotch as he threw the files in his direction.

"Ok. Morgan and JJ go to Shaun May's place, Prentiss and Rossi go to Harrison Date's house and Detective Burns' with me to Adam Lankford's place." Aaron ordered before getting up and dismissing them.

"Detective." Spencer called, beckoning the man back towards him. "I know you don't owe me any favours and I know you hate both me and Fliss but I need your help on this one."

"What are you talking about?" Reid almost groaned at the stupidity on the man but wisely held back.

"Distract them long enough for me to get out of here. I think I know where she is but I need to be the one to find her. I have to be able to get out of here." The genius practically begged. He had a good idea of who the UnSub was too but he knew he'd have no chance of getting the man to help him if he told him.

"I can't, you could get killed and there's only so long I can hold them off." Burns hissed.

"I just need long enough to get out of here then I'll call with the location. I just need to find her; I can't stay here in the station. Please? If it was your wife-"

"Ten minutes. I don't want either of you to die at the hands of this son of a bitch." The man relented.

"Thank you." The detective smiled and nodded, giving the genius the keys to his police car as well as his gun. Spencer was out of the door before he knew it.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

**There's that chapter . Hope you enjoyed it :-)**

**Ok , so I want to give you guys a choice here – do you want Fliss to die or be alive ? See I was leaning a little towards having her be dead – permanently – but that may be a little mean so I'm leaving it up to you guys . Erm , I'll put a poll up on my profile I guess or you can PM me or whatever .**

**Thanks for reading :D**

**Please let me know what you think ?**


	10. Chapter 9

**Here's the next chapter , the chapter where Reid finds Fliss – either dead or alive depending on what you all choose – will probably be the next one , I just have some gaps to fill first**

**Thanks for the reviews , favourites , follows , alerts and reads :-)**

**By the way , the poll is now up on my profile page – sorry it wasn't done sooner but I'd created the poll and didn't realise that the poll wouldn't go up on my profile unless I clicked it on the drop down menu :/**

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

_**Present Day 2.10pm**_

"So Detective, what do you know about Felicity?" Rossi asked the irritated man sat before him. Luckily, with the years the profiler had spent with his team, he'd learned how to keep a hold on his temper, and have some patience. He was desperate to find the woman, Reid had been hurt enough by the team without him losing her too. He didn't want the genius' daughter to have to live without her mother, to grow up and not know who she was, regardless of the fact that Dave didn't know her.

"She was a difficult teenager." He began, blowing out a long breath impatiently. His left foot bounced up and down quickly, his fingers tapping the desk. She had to be found, she had to be alive. He couldn't bear having to face another family, another ruined family. "She was arrested a couple of times for battery , theft , vandalism , breaking and entering and then she used to drink – a lot and she took drugs at one point. Dilaudid I think."

"Arrested a couple of times? Was she arrested for all of that?" Dave asked, surprised that Reid would be married to someone like that.

"Just for the battery and theft. She used to fight a lot – got expelled from three school, the first when she was ten. All for fighting. The first was with a student – er, Ralf Alex, she broke his nose. The next was when she was thirteen with a guy called Jake Maison, she broke his arm, fractured his cheek bone and, well, it was a miracle he was able to reproduce. The last was throwing a chair at a teacher." He ran his fingers through his hair, feeling the sudden need to defend the girl. "She mellowed out though, albeit only a little. When she had Ashley things changed and, well, she was never arrested again and she was less violent."

"What about her family? What did they have to say about all this?" The profiler inquired.

"Er, well, you see, her mother died when she was five. Her father put a gun to her head and told her to kill her own mother. She didn't and as a result was beaten and forced to hear her mother's screams as her father cut her until she bled out." Burns told him guiltily.

"So who were her foster parents?" Rossi was utterly confused now and only wished the guy would give him the whole story instead of messing him about.

"She didn't have any. She, er, she stayed with her father. We didn't find out who killed her mother until Felicity actually came in and showed us the videotape – the guy actually filmed it. What sick son of a bitch does that?"

"You saw her dead mother, saw the fact that the young girl was beaten and you didn't even attempt to take her away?" The older man was beside himself in anger. As far as he was concerned Burns was just as bad as the father, if not worse.

"Look, she was just a kid and her father, John, was a respected member of the community. Of course, when she was fifteen and he found out she was pregnant he nearly killed her and he was arrested. After that she went to live with Spencer and Diana, I mean she practically lived there already as her dad was abusive and although we knew we couldn't do anything cos she wouldn't testify." He explained hastily. It was true but still it hadn't made it any easier. He didn't like her but he pitied her and what she went through, and he did want to help her, he just couldn't at the time but he had a chance to now.

"She's married to Reid, right?" Dave asked, needing to move on from that out of fear of him losing his temper. There was no amount of reasoning that could ever make it OK for someone to leave a child with an abusive murderer.

"Yeah." It was said with a bored tone. "Is that all, we need to focus on finding her."

"Just one more question, why does his marriage license say he's married to Eliza Jones?"

"They were married before she changed her name, they intended to get her name changed on the marriage license but haven't yet. Obviously." Detective Burns said awkwardly. "She changed it because she didn't want to be associated with her parents or her past in general – she wanted a fresh start so she changed her name to Felicity James, went to uni, got a degree and is now a teacher."

"Why isn't her last name Reid if they're married?" This was the final question before he would report back to his team and then maybe Reid could fill in the remainder of the gaps.

"She has." Michael replied. "Her name is Felicity Reid but her records on our system still list her as Felicity James."

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Spencer paced the length of the teams makeshift conference room as the other members stared at him. Dave had just relayed all of the information he got from from Burns to them.

"Reid?" Hotch asked, trying to stop the agitated man from clearly working himself up further.

"Look, she's my wife, since we were eighteen. We weren't dating when she got pregnant, everyone just thought we were because we were so close. We spent pretty much every waking moment together when we weren't in school, or college for me. People made assumptions, it doesn't really matter." The genius stressed to them.

"But you still got her pregnant?" Emily asked, although she knew she really wasn't one to judge having been pregnant herself at fifteen.

Reid abruptly stopped and raked his hands through his hair in stress. "No. Ash isn't my kid, not biologically anyway but I'm the only father she's ever known and I intend to keep it that way. Biological or not, she's my daughter." He stared at each of them individually as if it would emphasise what he was saying. "Fliss wasn't exactly the most well rounded person ever. She kinda used to go to parties and drink and stuff and she, well, needless to say she didn't know who the father was. I stepped in and as everyone thought we were together already it wasn't hard to make them think she was pregnant with my child – in fact they practically assumed it."

"Could Felicity and Reid been the targets all along?" JJ surmised. "I mean, she's younger than the others and so there has to be a specific reason for taking her, that and the fact that the UnSub set his murders up so perfectly that it actually made us think Reid was the UnSub." She shot an apologetic look in her co-workers direction but he looked away showing he wasn't forgiving them that easy. She knew the trust between him and them was gone.

"Reid, can you think of anyone with a grudge against you or your wife? We did profile that the UnSub was jealous of something the victims had – well Reid has a wife and daughter." Jennifer continued.

"Well, he went out of his way to kill the people Reid hated, knew when Reid would be here and either guessed or knew that Reid wouldn't tell us where he was going and went for the time on the case." Morgan told them, hope and renewed determination gracing him once again.

"Could it be someone she had sex with that thinks he could be the father?" Prentiss asked the room.

"Look, right now I don't care why he has her or why he's done this, I care about finding my wife and this son of a bitch and making him pay. So help me or get out of my way." They'd never heard the young man speak to them that way but they knew that he was right. Hotch had been in that position and he wanted, and did, kill Foyet for killing his wife and threatening his kid. He knew he would've killed him even if Hayley didn't die. The other team members could only think the same thing – they would kill anyone that touched their family.

"Oh and Hotch, if she dies, I swear to God I'll kill you." Spencer spat at the older man.

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

**Yeah so that's that chapter **

**Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading :D**

**Erm , don't forget to vote – if you want to – whichever way you want the story to go ie whether Fliss lives or dies **

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	11. Chapter 10

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**The last chapter had the most reviews I've gotten from any of my chapter stories ever with 7 reviews , so thanks :D**

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

_**Present Day 4pm**_

The UnSub was parked right outside the school building up the courage to go inside. He didn't hurt children; he didn't abduct children either, however this just seemed necessary. He would exact his revenge and this was a great way to do it. He watched as all the other parents went in to collect their children, all oblivious to the horrors that surrounded them. None of them aware of just how dangerous the world was; that he could have walked into that nursery and taken any of their children and they'd never know it was him. But he was only there to grab his specific target, and with that he got out of his car and rushed towards the building.

"Hi." He said casually to the staff member he could see the little girl now, all happy and smiling her father's smile; it made him sick with hate. "I'm here to pick up Ashley Reid. Her father sent me as he and Felicity have been held up." The stupid woman didn't even think twice! Of course there was no reason that she wouldn't trust him. He smiled at the thought – he was truly untouchable, he could do whatever he wanted and no-one would ever suspect him.

"Here she is sir." The teacher told him, removing her hand from the twelve year old's back. "Have a good day." With that she left, leaving Ashley standing rather awkwardly in front of him.

"Where's mum or dad?" She asked, staring up at him with big brown eyes that captured her innocence perfectly. It caused him to almost back out of his plan but then he remember why he was doing it so instead grabbed her hand and practically pulled her out of the building and into the front seat of his car, forgetting it was against the law.

"They're not here. I'm gonna make sure you're safe though." Without glancing in the child's direction, he started the car and sped off.

"Where are they? I'm supposed to be going home and this is not the direction of home." Ashley complained matter-of-factly. Just like her mother, he thought, getting sick of her already. This is what bad parenting did to a kid. He almost laughed at the irony in that statement – he hadn't had the best childhood either but he did well for himself; he was powerful and smarter than everyone else.

"Shut up." The UnSub hissed at her.

"No." She shouted. "I want to go to my parents. They should've picked me up." He'd had it, he pulled over and slapped her as hard as he could in an effort to shut her up – it worked. The twelve year old sat there in shock, holding her hand to the side of her face that stung from the blow.

Grabbing her hair and moving his face close to her, so much so that she could feel his warm breath on her face. "Now shut up you little bitch. I'll take you to your mother, I'm sure she'd be thrilled to see you – if she does." He pulled her hair a little harder so she moved her hand away from her face then removed his hand and slapped her again for good measure, her head hitting the head rest. Smiling, he turned the radio on and began driving, satisfied at the girl silently crying next to him. Serves her right.

_**4.07pm**_

Reid decided now was the time to call Hotch, he was far enough away from the precinct now but knew he couldn't do this alone. It was pointless to call any of the others as they'd just call the Unit Chief anyway so why not just go straight to the man himself. His heart pounded in his chest as he tried to concentrate on driving, the closer he got the more scenario's ran through his head until the images of the victims and his wife jumbled together. He was terrified of losing her, of losing Ash but he'd told Jamie, his trustworthy neighbour, to pick her up from school so he knew she'd be safe from harm. Ash couldn't grow up without a mother, it was bad enough that he wasn't there as often as he wanted to be but if she, they, lost Fliss then he didn't know what he'd do. He hadn't meant what he'd said to Hotch, or at least he didn't think so. He wanted to kill the UnSub – and he would, he'd turned the people he worked with everyday, his family, against him and taken his wife. The more he thought about it the more furious he got at everybody.

"What!?" He practically shouted into his phone, which rang before he had to chance to call anybody,

"Where are you? I told you to stay in the station, Reid." Aaron told him, a stern edge to his voice.

"I'm going to find my wife and make sure she's safe. You know what it's like to know your family's in danger Hotch, so don't try to tell me to go back to the station, it's not gonna happen. You couldn't save Hayley but maybe I can save Fliss." Spencer told the man, not caring that it was insensitive and a little mean. His wife was his main priority, everything else was just collateral damage.

"Where are you going? Do you know who the UnSub is?" The Unit Chief relented, not wanting to send him back to the station anyway. As cruel as it was for Reid to say what he did, it was true. He'd spend the rest of his life remembering that; her bloodied, dead body, Foyet's voice, how close he'd come to killing Jack too. Even now it replayed unwillingly in his head, plagued his dreams. He still went through the events and found anything and everything that he could've done differently that would've saved her. The guilt he felt for even suspecting his subordinate for murder was eating him up inside and he had no way to make it better. There was nothing he could say other than to apologise but he doubted that would be enough for the younger man; he didn't forgive and forget easily.

"The UnSub is Darren Arrow, the Detective we met when we first arrived. He hated me because, well, everyone did. But he despised Fliss cos she beat him up, he's three years older than her and he was humiliated in front of everyone, literally. He insulted her in the lunch queue, slapped her ass, told her she had a nice rack and that he'd like to 'hit that' so she beat him up." The genius supplied, knowing already that Burns would protest.

"Are you sure?" Hotch asked, not giving the Detective sitting next to him a chance to speak. He trusted his team-mates judgement.

"Yeah. I'm heading to his house, get here, I'm gonna need you guys." Spencer replied before disconnecting the call.

The rest of the team were called back and ordered into the direction of the Arrow household.

_**4.15pm**_

By the time Spencer had pulled up, shortly followed by Aaron, he saw Ashley latching onto JJ and sobbing. Instincts kicking in, he sprinted to her and enveloped her into a hug.

"Daddy." The girl mumbled against his shoulder.

"Sorry." Lacey Arrow cried. "I didn't know. Darren told me he was told by you that we had to take care of her for a while." Reid, unable to hold his temper scowled at her.

"Where the fuck is Fliss." Letting go of his daughter, knowing that the team were right behind them so she was safe, he began stalking towards Mrs Arrow. "Where's your son of a bitch husband?!" Once standing right in front of her he yelled into her face; "Where the hell are they!?", making her step back and cry in terror.

"I-I don't know." She told him hysterically. "He g-goes away s-s-sometimes." Morgan held the genius back. Before then he'd never realised how much strength it would require to hold his surrogate brother back, but now he realised the younger man was stronger than he looked.

"Where to? You have to know." The genius said through gritted teeth having shaken Derek off him.

"No-No I – I don't. I'm sorry!" Lacy wailed, hands gripping the sides of her hair as she shook her head from side to side.

Reid shook his head and cursed under his breath, giving the woman a look of disgust before turning and jogging down the steps. "Garcia, search for any properties Darren Arrow has, other than his home. Hurry." As he waited for the call back he reached for his daughter and held her, kissing her hair gently. "Baby, go with JJ and I'll meet you at the station in a little while." Ashley nodded slightly into his chest.

"Where's mum?" She cried, her tear-stained face looking up at him. For the first time, he noticed the red mark covering her cheek and clenched his fists. Stroking it gently, she winced and let another tear escape. "Dad, it's ok. It doesn't even hurt that much."

"I'm going to kill him!" Standing up, he left and slammed a hand against Hotch's SUV in fury.

"Come on sweetie, let's get you back to the station." JJ guided the little girl to her SUV, and after receiving a small nod from her Unit Chief, left.

Luckily, Garcia then chose that moment to call Morgan with the information they required. "OK thanks Baby Girl." Derek turned to address the team. "He owns another place, a house in Greenwood Lane, number 1384." Spencer didn't even stop to think about it, instead running to the police car and racing away, sirens blazing.

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

**So , there's this chapter – this was originally going to be a lot longer but I decided to break it up into two chapters instead . Hope that's OK with you guys**

**Thanks for reading , hope you enjoyed it :-) **

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	12. Chapter 11

**Sorry I made you wait for a couple of days for this update :S**

**Thanks for all the reviews , favourites , alerts and reads :D**

**This will be the last chapter before you find out whether Fliss dies or gets saved **

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

_**Present Day 4.28**_

Lacy Arrow paced the length of the living room, utterly lost. The agents had all dispersed, leaving her a nervous wreck. Darren couldn't possibly have done this – he was a good man. He _was _a good man. Scolding herself for that thought she decided she had to be faithful to her husband; he was innocent, she was sure of it, had to be sure of it.

"Darren." Her voice was croaky due to all the crying she'd done and he instantly asked her what was wrong. "The FBI think you committed all those murders and that you have Felicity. Spencer's going crazy." A sob chose that moment to escape her lips. "I told them it wasn't you but they seem so sure."

Mr Arrow paced, much like his wife had been doing moments before. He'd seen her do it many times out of stress, rage or upset and he'd picked up the bad habit in recent years. Now, he didn't even realise he was doing it. "He's out? The let Spencer off!?" There was no way the fury in his voice would go unnoticed and he would've panicked if his wife hadn't been so dense and stupid. For years he'd hated, even resented her, but right now he was thankful – so, so thankful.

"Yeah they did. They suspected him too?" He smiled in delight at the way she continued the conversation as though nothing was wrong. "The big black guy got off the phone with someone, told Spencer and the others and then Spencer ran to a cop car and sped off." In that moment he knew his fun was over. He had to finish Reid's wife off and leave. Quickly.

"How long ago?"

"Ten minutes. Why?" It'd take at least twenty minutes longer to get here; everybody underestimated his intelligence, it used to infuriate him but now he loved it. He loved the power it gave him. Not answering his wife, he hung up his phone and made his way to the basement.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Fliss heard the knock of the door, the one she'd become accustomed to over the last however many days she'd been here. It was so difficult to distinguish time now as she was in and out of consciousness – mostly passing out due to the pain. Her body hurt all over. He'd thoroughly abused her physically, psychologically and sexually. She cringed as she remembered his body on hers, the face of pure pleasure staring back at her. The fact that he'd done it over and over again, cutting or hitting her when she refused to tell him that she enjoyed it and wanted more. Would Spencer ever want to touch her again knowing that these scars will always be there. The physical ones will be a constant reminder, but sleeping. She knew she'd dream of that face, the face of a monster, for the rest of her life. She knew she couldn't hold out much longer just like she knew that he was waiting for her to give up, to tell him to stop because she couldn't take it anymore. He wanted the satisfaction of knowing he'd broken her before he killed her – the ultimate control and power.

_Darren came down the stairs quickly, enraged. Walking straight up to her he punched her in her already damaged face. "You really think you can keep my kid away from me bitch!?" He only hit her harder when she didn't respond, although it was more out of shock rather than to annoy him further – she'd learned quickly that that was not a good idea. "Answer me!" He was shouting so close to her that drops of saliva sprayed onto her face as he yelled. God, he was disgusting._

"_She's not yours. She's Spencer's." Honestly, that was a lie, technically a half lie. It wasn't Reid's that much she knew. Fliss had no idea who the father was but wasn't about to admit it. She only wanted Ashley to know and see the genius as a father, no one else._

"_Don't lie to me!" Another blow, this time to her stomach, knocking the breath out of her. As she coughed and spluttered, he left her side momentarily only to come back with a large box. Curiousity was getting the better of her despite her knowing it was something she wasn't going to like. The thought was confirmed after the first shock of electricity coursed through her body._

The sound of the restraints being removed woke her up from her moments 'rest'. It was her only chance to attempt to escape. Mrs Reid knew it would be a futile attempt as none of the others had made it out but she had to try. She had to do something. With that she bolted off the table running for the stairs. He caught up with her as she was halfway up the stairs and dragged her foot backwards, making her fall and hit her shoulder on the corner of one of the steps. Pain surged through her before the adrenaline took over and the hurt lessened. She was on the floor now and just as he was about to climb on top of her she kicked him in his 'special' area as he liked to call it. Then delivered another kick to his stomach, knocking him back.

Anger coursed through him. He would not let some woman get the better of him. He was too good, better than that. Getting up quickly, swaying slightly, he pulled her back down the stairs and over to the table with the instruments. A fistful of her hair in his clenched fist kept her in place as he contemplated the best way to kill her. Asphyxiation. Squaring his shoulders, he swung his legs around and practically jumped atop her, his thighs gripping her own to prevent her from kicking him again. He could feel his growing erection and excitement as she struggled to get free from his firm hold around her neck. Just like the other women, Felicity slapped and pushed him feebly before going limp, the last breath of air leaving her mutilated body.

_**4.43pm**_

The minute the FBI agent arrived at the house, he grabbed his gun and sprinted inside, forgetting all the rules he would've usually followed had it been any other situation. Breathing hard and searching every room, he found nothing. As much as he wanted to kill the son of a bitch, Fliss was more important – he would not lose her. He couldn't lose her. Knowing the team would be arriving any minute now, he searched the area for any sign of her until he came across a well hidden door; the white door camouflaging into the white paint of the kitchen. Slowly opening it, he raced down the stairs, stopping at what he saw when he reached the bottom.

_**4.45pm**_

"Reid's already in there no doubt." Rossi told them, stating the obvious.

"We need to get in there." Hotch informed the remainder of the team, bar JJ who was at the station.

"Be careful." Burns said to them before they entered the house.

_**4.47pm**_

The gun was trained on Darren Arrow, his hands shaking, finger itching to pull the trigger. The internal struggle was too much and the tears pouring down his face, and the smile on the UnSub's did nothing but make him take aim.

"Reid!" Hotch shouted as the team filed down the stairs, guns aimed at Arrow. "You don't want to do this." Spencer felt the momentary desire to shoot his Unit Chief. He was talking to him like he was the UnSub. Like he was the one that had killed them.

The grip on his gun got harder, it pressing painfully into his palms as he struggled to hold it steady. He'd wanted nothing more than to shoot the detective now. Wipe that stupid, triumphant smile off his face.

"I really get what you see in her, all that stamina. She enjoyed it, thought I was a lot better than you. The struggle makes it worth it. Just hope I didn't get her pregnant again, that would really put a damper on your marriage too." Arrow laughed, winding the younger man up, satisfied at the look of pure fury on his face.

"Reid!" Aaron shouted once more. He didn't want his agent going down as a guilty man which he would if he killed Darren now. Regardless of what the team knew, he will have killed a police officer and all the other murders can only be connected to Spencer. Darren could not die. "You don't need to do this. Go help Fliss." He ordered. The genius wavered for a minute, glancing at Hotch with tears streaming down his face.

"She's dead Hotch. He killed her!" With renewed determination he raised his gun and fired, emptying his clip before dropping it and running to Fliss. Aaron's heart momentarily stopped, relief rushing through him when he saw what Spencer had done.

"Darren Arrow you are under arrest for the murders of nine people, the abduction of eight and rape of four." Morgan spat out as he roughly manhandled the now handcuffed detective. He too, was glad that Reid only emptied his clip on the wall, dangerously close to the man's head which stunned him enough for Derek to get behind him and arrest him.

"Eleven, twelve, thirteen..." Reid counted out the movements as he performed CPR on his wife. Breathing into her mouth twice, he started the process again. "Come on baby, please." The team watched the younger man do this, sobbing and begging her to take a breath; their heart breaking for him. A tear broke the barrier and trickled down Hotch's face, joining the others in their silent tears, all praying that she wake up. "Come on, please. Don't leave me. You promised me." Seven attempts later, he'd still gotten no response as the paramedics ran up to him and told him to step out of the way. In Reid's attempt to save her, he'd ripped some of the weak stitches the UnSub did, so blood pooled over her body slowly, trickling down her sides and onto the floor like they too were crying. There were so many cuts, so many bruises and Spencer just crawled back, drew his knees up to his chest and sobbed helplessly. Blood covered his hands and rubbed onto his face and hair as he ran his hands through his hair. He watched as the paramedics tried to wake her up, talking to her just as he had, all to no avail.

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

**Here's this chapter**

**The next chapter will be the chapter that decides whether she lives or dies so if you wanna vote go for it via the poll on my profile , PM me or tell me in a review .**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter and it was worth reading :-)**

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	13. Chapter 12

**So here's this chapter**

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**Hope you enjoy it I guess – and sorry to those who didn't get the result they wanted**

**- . - . - . - . - . - . - .**

"_What about Allie?" Fliss suggested as her and Reid sat in his room looking through possible baby names. She was six months pregnant, living with him and happy. Really happy. They'd been dating for four months, not for the sake of the baby but because they actually wanted to, and Spencer had really taken up the role of boyfriend and father; talking to their baby and kissing her swollen stomach goodnight. _

"_What about Gretchen?" He asked sarcastically, making it known that both names were out; Gretchen was a no for both of them anyway. She laughed at the girly voice he used, lightly kissing him on the cheek._

"_Just a suggestion, sweetheart." Smiling, both turned back to their respective books. "Jennifer?" _

"_No, horrible name." Spencer dismissed it as soon as the words left her mouth with no hesitation. She'd suggested about twenty-three names by now and each had been rejected, his fifteen names being rejected too. Unfortunately, he'd come up with rather old-fashioned names which she whole-heartedly disapproved of. _

"_Ashley." The genius stated as though it was some brilliant answer to a difficult question, an excited gleam to his eye as he glanced at her. "What about Ashley?" _

"_Ashley Reid. I like it." His girlfriend told him after much contemplation._

"_Reid?" Never in his wildest dreams did he expect her to use his last name for her child no matter how much he wanted it. Sure, he'd acted like he was the father, they'd told everyone he was – much to Felicity's disapproval – but he'd always assumed she'd give the baby her last name._

"_Er, yeah, you know, if you, er, want me to?" The question was incredibly awkward and reflected the way Spencer would say something if anyone questioned him; providing it wasn't her or his mother. "If you don't it's fine, I just thought-" she was interrupted by a kiss._

_"I'd love that. Ashley Reid." He repeated, kissing her again as she smiled in relief._

_**8.03pm**_

The team, minus JJ, were all gathered in the waiting room waiting for any news on the twenty-five

year old woman. She'd been in surgery for over three hours, having been resuscitated three times since they found her in the basement of Arrow's second house. The members of the BAU sat and watched Reid pace impatiently in front of them as he had been doing for over two hours, after using the hospital showers to clean off the blood and change clothes – after gaining permission due to some persuasion on Hotch's part. He'd do anything to help his colleague right now, knowing how horrible it is after being in such a position of waiting before, despite the completely different circumstances.

Ashley had been at the hospital for a while, needing comfort from her father but was sent home by said man soon after, Jennifer offering to stay with the young girl once again. Reid had thanked her, waited until they were out of sight and began pacing and cursing under his breath. The image of Felicity lying on the ground, eyes open and staring at him while her blood ran through his fingers haunted him, never leaving his mind. The words Darren uttered accompanying said image. The rage was still there, mixed with his guilt and anguish with no outlet. It was eating him from the inside out and he wanted desperately to hit someone or something. Damn Hotch. Damn the team. None of this would've happened if it wasn't for them – they were the ones to blame. Repeating this mantra over and over was the only thing keeping him sane; keeping him from flipping out. He could've been there and made it impossible for Fliss or Ashley to fall victim to Arrow but instead he was locked in an interrogation room from his so called 'family' who'd betrayed him and suspected him of murder. He'd promised his wife that he'd see her the next day that he'd call and be home for dinner and spend the night with her but instead he wasn't. He was being interrogated and questioned, unable to be there for her. How could the team turn their backs on him? How could they think he was a serial killer after all that he and they have been through? Because of them he could've potentially been put to death. Because of them his wife and kid might have been killed.

Reid, she'll be ok." Hotch told him in a vain attempt to comfort him. Standing up, he edged closer to the younger man making the genius stop and turn to look at him. "I'm sorry." Pain was etched on the team leader's face, knowing that this was his fault.

"This is on you. I mean what I said, she dies and you die." He spat out through gritted teeth, his hands curling into fists as he barely contained the full extent of his anger. Right now he wasn't, couldn't, think straight and if he was being logical he knew that he wouldn't ever kill his Unit Chief but he heard himself say the words and the bitter implications and seriousness that lay beneath them sounding like a threat. Also, if he'd been thinking logically he'd have known it wasn't Hotch's fault – or any of the teams – but unfortunately he wasn't and he needed someone to blame. It was far easier to blame the man in front of him than accept the harsh reality of the situation. "It is your fault!"

"Reid." Rossi hissed, trying to stop the man from making Aaron feel worse than he already did.

_**Previously that day**_

"_This is my fault Rossi." Hotch sighed, refusing to look at his only confidant. He always felt guilty when something bad happened to one of his team members but now he felt consumed by it, like he was drowning and something was stopping him from getting above the water._

"_I was the one who pointed out that Reid fit the profile, that he was missing whenever someone was abducted or found dead." Dave informed him, irritated by his friends pain. Several times over the years, him and Aaron had had this very conversation – Hotch telling him that something was his fault and Rossi having to reassure him that it wasn't; because it never actually was his fault. He was convinced the younger man just preferred the pain and convince himself that it was because of him to give his other team member's the right to blame him. Somehow, the pain had always been easier for Hotch to deal with, he preferred his family to direct their blame and anger towards him than anybody else. _

"_But I went along with it. I actually arrested him and now his wife is missing. His damn wife is missing Rossi and it's because of me!" The Unit Chief almost yelled, glaring at the older agent. "He could've been there with her, protected her, but instead he was in an interrogation room pleading with me to believe him." _

"_Get a grip Aaron." Dave sighed, feeling like he was scolding an errant teenager. "You gave Reid plenty of opportunities to tell you where he was going and he didn't. Add to that that the UnSub has done one hell of a job at framing him and we got this situation. It's not anybody but the UnSub's fault, we can't ignore evidence and we can't ignore the fact that Reid refused to give us an alibi for where he was when the victims were found or abducted." The profiler reasoned fearing that this was a losing battle. "Did you believe that he was innocent?"_

"_Rossi, it doesn't matter about all of that – because of me the UnSub was able to get Felicity – God I don't even feel like I have the right to say her name." He laughed humourlessly, an attempt to cover up how hurt he was. "I can believe he was innocent to the bone but I still put him in this position; put her in this position. She could die because of me." Looking away from the older profiler, he began pacing until Rossi grabbed onto his arm and spun him around to face him._

"_Did you believe he was innocent?" The man re-iterated._

"_Yeah, but it doesn't matter Rossi." Hotch was getting annoyed. Why could Rossi just never listen and let him wallow in his guilt and pain? He deserved it._

"_It does matter." Dave retorted firmly, "this probably would've happened anyway – Reid would've had to of left her eventually and then the UnSub would've struck. It's inevitable. Hey, if it's your fault then it's ours too – none of us argued the matter; we refused to listen to our instincts and the knowledge that we knew he didn't do it because we had to follow the evidence. No matter what we think, it's our job to follow the evidence as it usually leads us to the right guy and unfortunately it lead us to Reid. The UnSub was smart about it and obviously has a grind against Reid and, or, his wife and that's how we'll find him. None of this is your fault – it's the UnSub's, heck if you're blaming yourself then we all have to blame ourselves too cos we're all equally to blame." He saw Aaron sigh in understanding and knew that he'd won this battle. "Let's go and help Reid."_

_**8.19pm**_

The team were all standing now, not knowing how to defuse the tension between the three men, Reid fuming, Hotch racked with guilt and Rossi trying to calm the situation.

"It's true!" Spencer exclaimed, still glaring at his boss.

"No, no it's not. She's here because of Arrow, not because of Hotch!" Rossi reasoned, not as calmly as he should've done.

"She wouldn't have been here if Hotch hadn't kept me in that fucking interrogation room all night. I'd have been with her." The younger man's nails were digging into his palms, almost drawing blood.

"No Reid. She probably would've been kidnapped anyway. You couldn't have stayed with her and none of us knew what the UnSub's plan was. He wanted her and he would've gotten her, he'd have just waited til you were back with us. Nobody even noticed when he left the station." Hotch told him trying to convince the both of them of this fact.

"You son of a bitch!" Unable to control the urge any longer, Reid punched Hotch in the face, making him stumble back and hold his now broken nose. Before the younger man could take another shot at his boss, Morgan held his arms and pulled him in the opposite direction.

_**9.45pm**_

After Spencer's three 'calm down' trips and twelve cups of coffee later, he re-joined the team. This time had been spent thinking long and hard about the other six members of the BAU and he had come to a conclusion. It was just when he would tell them that was the problem. The phrase 'sooner rather than later' popped into his head but he didn't think it'd be a good idea. Right now the silence was too good and he didn't want to be seen as starting any trouble. Honestly, he didn't have the energy to care about them right now; just Fliss and Ashley who he'd called half an hour ago to check up on. Unexpectedly, he felt bad about hitting Hotch; he'd had time to think about it and knew it wasn't fair. He would apologise, eventually. Maybe when they'd both calmed down enough.

"Family of Felicity Reid?" A red headed doctor approached, chart in hand. He was forty at least but the bags under his eyes and the creases around them made him look older.

"Yeah." Reid jumped up, the rest of the team mimicking his actions just a few short steps behind him.

"We did everything we could." The doctor started and upon seeing the crestfallen and panicked face of the recipients, hastily continued, "she's going to be alright. She had several broken ribs, one of which fragmented and pierced her lung, but she'll recover and there'll be no permanent damage. There was a lot of internal bleeding which is why she crashed in the ambulance. Her shoulder blade was cracked but will be ok, and luckily the cuts weren't infected or deep so we were able to fix them up – however may scar for a while at least." Fixing the younger man with a sympathetic smile he finished. "And, at your request, the rape kit was done. She was, by the looks of it several times. I'm so sorry sir."

"Can I- I want to see her." Reid demanded, fixing a determined stare at the doctor.

"Yes sir, she's asleep right now but feel free to stay – she's in room 435, right down this corridor and to the right." Smiling sympathetically, eyes dripping with sympathy, the doctor left.

Spencer stood there shocked for a minute before turning on his heel to look at the worried faces behind him. They were hazy from the tears he didn't realise had been streaming down his face at the news. "I'll have my resignation papers on your desk by Monday." With that he left and headed towards the room holding his beaten wife.

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**There's that chapter – there will be at least one more where she'll wake up but I'm not sure after that as I don't want it to drag on and become boring …**

**Sorry again to those who didn't want her to be alive :S**

**Thanks for reading , hope you enjoyed it :D**

**Let me know what you think ? Thanks :-)**


	14. Chapter 13

**So here's this chapter**

**Thanks for all the reads , reviews , favourites and alerts .**

**Sorry to anyone who gets annoyed at me updating for a second time in one day , I just wanted to get this down before I forgot about it**

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It had been three days of Spencer sat in the small hospital room, holding his wife's hand and praying she wake up. Whispers of their past and their possible future were deafening, consuming his every thought. By now the man was all out of tears and energy to do anything but wait for her. One of the team always stayed with her when he went to get coffee or was forced to get something to eat or shower and change. Reid didn't want Ashley to see her mother comatose so made the trips to visit her for a couple of hours while the team took turns babysitting her; she'd become well acquainted with each of them over the past few days although he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Still, he stood behind his decision to resign despite the realisation that somehow he trusted them enough with his wife and daughter even though they suspected him of murder – old habits die hard he figured. Him and Hotch were still wary of one another, Spencer only ever acknowledging his presence by glancing at him rather than talking to him or anything of the sort. He wished things would go back to how they were before despite its impossibility, but he missed them – the team, his family, his life before all this.

Feeling slight movement in his hand, he glanced down and examined it, noticing Felicity's finger moving ever so slightly. Hoping she'd wake up, he squeezed her hand gently and begged her to open her eyes.

"Hey." The woman croaked, her throat incredibly dry. It took her a minute to realise where she was, not knowing whether it was a dream or reality – she hoped to God it was the latter. Spencer, being the darling husband that he was had already poured her a glass of water and held it to her as she took a long drink, revelling in the refreshing feel of it as it rushed down her throat. She couldn't remember anything feeling so good in her life. "The hospital huh?" Breathing heavily, and with a lot of effort on her part, she turned her head to face Spencer. "Don't suppose there's a chance of you getting me out of here any time soon?"

Reid laughed for what felt like the first time in years. "Not a chance in hell baby." He kissed her forehead lingering for a moment. "I missed you, I'm so sorry."

"Wasn't your fault. It wouldda happened anyway, no-one knew he was gonna do this so no-one but Darren is to blame." She told him matter-of-factly. "Is Ash OK? Where is she?" Her heart monitor started to beep as a representation of her increasing heartbeat so he answered quickly.

"She's fine, with the team for a while. I didn't want her to see you while you were, er, asleep." She sighed in relief before laughing at his word choice. "I think I'd better tell a doctor you're awake." Reluctantly, he got up to tell whichever member of the team was outside to keep an eye on her while he went to find Dr Lankford. Unluckily, it was none other than his Unit Chief.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

When Hotch walked into the hospital room after a rather awkward exchange with his subordinate, he was greeted by a woman, scrunching up her eyes and breathing in and out as though in pain.

"Are you alright ma'am?" He asked the twenty-five year old, who's eyes snapped open at the voice.

"Er, yeah. Thanks." She struggled into a sitting position as he sat beside her on the chair once occupied by her husband. "Aaron Hotchner right?"

He smiled guiltily and nodded.

"Did he kill him?" Fliss asked the Unit Chief who looked at her, confused. "Darren. Did Spencer kill Darren?" She looked at him with a mix of expectancy and curiosity. The polar opposite of Reid, he thought. She was confidant, Reid was not. Interesting.

"No, emptied his clip on the wall right next to him though." Aaron told her. "I thought he would've though, killed him I mean. I'm glad he didn't, it'd be letting the son of a bitch off too easy." It was the truth, although he decided it was best that he not mention anything about Reid being in custody.

Sensing his discomfort she reached over and squeezed his hand. "It's OK. Not your fault. He'll get over it, eventually." Smiling knowingly at him she added; "he has one heck of a swing doesn't he? I remember him punching this guy; his name was Martin, because he insulted me. Broke his nose, much like yours is. Of course he wasn't in the best frame of mind then, but I guess he wasn't when he did that to you." Both knew she was talking about Reid's Dilaudid days but neither confirmed it. He smiled slightly.

"Yeah he does. I'm sorry this happened to you, I'm just, I'm so sorry." Somehow, he found it easier to talk to her than anyone else. Figuring it was because she was an acquaintance, he allowed her to see this moment of vulnerability.

"You've got nothing to apologise to me about. This," she gestured to herself and the damage that had obviously been caused and still caused her a whole lot of pain, "was inevitable. We both know Spencer's sensitive but give him time, or make him listen to you. Just apologise, he'll forgive you eventually. You just need to let him know you're sorry and how bad you feel, cos let's face it, given the opportunity that man can hold one heck of a grudge." One more squeeze of his hand a smile off him later, Reid came back in with the doctor following closely behind.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

Despite how hungry Felicity was, she found that she couldn't keep her dinner down so was limited to fluids only. Tests had been done, she'd been prodded and questioned and told about her injuries etc and she'd had a three hour nap according to her husband, who refused to leave her side. Hotch had bid his farewell shortly after the two doctors; one the genius and the other the medical doctor, had entered the room.

"So…" Mrs Reid began after a while. "You, Aaron, the team. What's goin' on?" She knew the answer but needed to hear it from him, knowing that it was bound to be a big mess.

"Nothing." He lied, knowing it was pointless but feeling the need to try anyway. Sighing, he decided to just tell her, especially after the glare she graced him with. "They suspected me of murder. Me!? They were supposed to trust me and instead they decided to arrest me and let you go missing – they only released me after you went missing and then Hotch told me I had to stay in the station but I had to find you! I hate them!" He couldn't help his shouting by the end of it, his rage boiling once again as it did whenever he thought about it. Rolling her eyes and laughing, she kissed his knuckles, catching his attention.

"Babe, it wasn't their fault. And where did the hitting your boss thing come in?" Raising an eyebrow, his wife smirked.

"After we got to the hospital and before I told him I'm gonna resign." His voice showed how adamant he was but she huffed slightly in irritation. Dr Reid was just so difficult sometimes. "What? They didn't believe me, they didn't trust me. I can't work with them anymore! I just can't. They should've believed me." Anger seeped through his tone and he glared at her.

"Do you remember when we were sixteen and I told you I loved you for the first time and you left me." She began as he stared down at his lap, ashamed of his actions. "You accused me of just saying it so you'd stick around. I mean you were pissed off at the time with you being bullied and one of your mum's episodes and the work on top, but still." He was about to interrupt and apologise again so she hastily continued. "I was so furious that I didn't talk to you for three days and you tried and tried to apologise but I wouldn't have any of it, until finally I listened and forgave you. You screwed up majorly, your team screwed up majorly with you. It doesn't mean you can't forgive them."

"I should've known you'd do something like that." He accused. "Look Fliss, they're two completely different circumstances. They were like family to me, brothers, sisters, parents, whatever and they betrayed me and my trust. I can't forgive that." He retracted his hand from hers, momentarily forgetting where they were and that she was hurt as she silently winced at the sudden movement.

"Can't and won't are two completely different things." Fliss retorted. "If you resign, two years down the line will you regret it? If you refuse to talk to them for said length of time will you miss them? Will you be angry with them forever? Will you forgive them? Will you feel guilty that you punished and hurt them for hurting you by resigning?" The questions were said in a somewhat patronising manner. "That's what I think it is you know. It's that you're punishing them for hurting you and so you want them to hurt just as much, if not more. You want them to feel just as guilty and bad as you feel. News flash baby, they already do and making it their fault isn't fair. Don't forget that they helped you too. Aaron helped you, Spencer." The last sentence was heavily emphasised and Reid shook his head, wincing at the words.

"No, Aaron," he started using his name in a mockingly sarcastic manner, "forced me into an interrogation room for hours. That wasn't helping me!" By now he was pacing what little of the room he could, keeping as much distance from her as he could.

"You didn't shoot and kill Darren. Why?" Fliss enquired patiently, getting increasingly tired but fighting to stay awake.

"Because Hotch-" Reid stopped and glared at her. "You know, I hate it when you do that." Sighing, he shuffled back over and sat at her side on the bed, kissing her forehead.

"Finish what you were gonna say." His wife demanded lightly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Because Hotch told me not to. Because I knew that we both knew it'd be the end for me if I did. Because he didn't- he didn't want me to lose you cos he thought he'd lost me." She smiled triumphantly, the usual sparkle in her eye appearing – the one she only got when she beat him at something.

"Think about it before you do this please?" Fliss begged of him. "You already broke the man's nose I mean come on."

"Ha, funny. I was annoyed and worried, what did you expect?" Spencer asked rhetorically, teasing her with light kisses to her lips.

"Not that." She suggested. "I will support you in anything you do, anything. Heck, I'd move to, like, China with you if you asked-"

"Little overdramatic don't yah think Fliss?" He laughed, rolling his eyes.

She shrugged, wincing and scrunching her eyes shut at the jolt of pain. "I'm OK." She told her husband after opening her eyes to his worried gaze. Spencer shuck his head, showing his wife that he didn't believe her. "Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, before you make any rash decisions, think about it for a couple of days and then, if you still feel the same way, and want to resign then do it. And maybe apologise to your boss too cos, I mean hitting him wasn't exactly the best way to go and it's not like he deserved it. But just promise me you'll think about it and calm down a little before you bother with all this? If it makes it easier we'll even move to Quantico with you so you have something to come home to more regularly. Remember you joined the BAU to help people and you shouldn't leave just because of this, er, minor setback."

After a moment of silent deliberation he sighed in defeat. "I'll think about it – and apologise to Hotch" he added after a pointed look from his ever so level-headed wife, "if you go to sleep. You look exhausted."

"Wow, you really do have a way with words. I always wondered how you worked your way into my heart, I guess now I know." Felicity replied sarcastically. "I will sleep if you lay down next to me and hold me. I don't want to have a bad dream tonight."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Spencer told her as she made the room for him to lie down. Pulling her towards him gently so he wouldn't hurt her, he kissed her and murmured his goodnights as they both fell into a content sleep.

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**So there's that chapter , hope it was worth reading**

**I think I might add one more chapter giving the decision as to whether Reid does resign and maybe Hotch and his apologies and how that pans out**

**Thanks for reading :-)**

**Let me know what you think ? Thanks**


	15. Chapter 14

**Thanks for the reads , reviews , favourites and alerts – I really do appreciate it :D**

**I , for the first time ever , actually planned something out – ie the beginning of this chapter ; never have I ever done that before , instead I go with the flow with all of my stories until this chapter . Anyway , hope it's OK .**

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Spencer sat down opposite the older man with a frown being the dominating feature on his face. It had taken him two days, like promised, to make up his mind and to get over the betrayal of his family. Even now the anger threatened to get the better of him although the feeling wasn't as strong as it once was. Fliss had supported him in his decision, encouraging him to have this face to face conversation. He had every intention of speaking to each of his team individually – they deserved that much.

The man in front of him had let his worry invade his very being, more than likely unintentionally as he thought he knew what the younger man was going to do. Reid was unsure of his options; he'd had the conversation in his head several times but his mind was now blank. Great. The young man had managed to convince himself that he was doing what was necessary and what was best for him, what he wanted and needed, however now, upon seeing his boss, the second-guessing came to play, sneaking around his view of the situation and whispering all the things he didn't want to hear.

"Hi." Aaron Hotchner greeted the younger man with a voice unexpectedly lacking in confidence.

"Hi." The younger man parroted weakly out of polite formality. Suddenly he was tired of the drama, the feeling of pain and betrayal leaving him with a clear mind. He missed his co-workers, his friends, his family. They would always be his family and they would be Fliss and Ashley's too.

"I'm sorry. I know it's not enough and I know I was wrong, but I'm sorry. There's nothing I can say to make this better but I at least wanted you to know that." His boss declared slowly, punctuating his apology as if his subordinate needed that to be done in order for him to understand him. Hotch wanted, even embraced the pain and the shame and the guilt. He wanted it to last for as long as he lived; it'd be the ever-present reminder of how he betrayed his co-worker, friend and somewhat surrogate son. Hotchner knew he deserved that pain.

"I know, trust me I do. If it's any consolation I'm sorry too." Spencer made a gesture towards his surrogate fathers nose before both the gentlemen cracked a smile; the fathers first genuine smile in the week and a half they'd been in Las Vegas. "I forgive you. All of you. It mustn't have been easy for you guys and it wasn't fair of me to blame the team; you especially for this. I had no right to do what I did-"

"No, Reid. You had every right. We should've known better than this. Should've thought twice instead of being so desperate to solve the case and get home, to forget about how gruesome and violent it all was. We knew it wasn't you, yet I still put you in that room. Because of me your wife's in the hospital. Because of me, she had to endure all that she did." Aaron's voice faded as he reached the end of the sentence, pleading with his eyes for the genius to understand if only a little. Pleading for the blame the younger man could grace him with. No words could convey how he felt, no words could explain how sorry he was for everything.

"Hotch, it wasn't your fault – as much as you'd love for me to blame you. Fliss doesn't either, does she?" The genius smiled knowingly as the man nodded slightly. "It was partly my fault for not telling you where I was going when I left, for not letting you know first when I left for early lunch breaks etc without consulting you. It's Darren's fault for everything – the deaths, Fliss, us. It's the team's fault for not believing me and for accusing me of serial murder – so technically we're all to blame." Doctor Reid explained, his level-headed self returning.

Hotch sighed in resignation, knowing he wasn't winning this one but grateful for the forgiveness. "So, you're job will always be available to you for when you want it. If you want it back." The Unit Chief informed the genius, receiving a smile in return.

"I'm not leaving, Hotch." Spencer assured the older man. "I just want a break for a while. I need some time with my family – I need to be there for them until Fliss is back on her feet. Right now, I just need to be there for them, I came so close to losing them-"

"You don't need to justify yourself to me, not after this. Honestly, I was expecting you to leave and never look back." Aaron admitted sheepishly, glad that Reid wasn't leaving the team because of his actions.

"I'd miss you guys too much, you guys are my family – with Ashley and Fliss. I want you guys to be in their lives, to know them and be for them what you guys are to me." He told his boss honestly. Never did he want his wife and child to be ripped away from them because of him, not when they'd gotten to know his team and liked them. Ashley was literally attached to the team and Felicity enjoyed their company when he wasn't around. "Besides, Ashley keeps asking me if you guys are her auntie's and uncle's." The pair laughed at the comment, at ease with each other once again.

"So are your wife and daughter staying here?" The Unit Chief asked out of curiousity.

"Nah, they're coming to Quantico, moving there to be closer to me, to us. It'll be easier to see her and keep an eye on them. I don't want them to be so far away anymore. I'd feel better, safer, if they were closer." Hotch nodded his understanding as they both stood up.

"If you need anything at all, we're here. Take as long as you need – and if you need help moving just call. I'm sorry for everything, really." Reid thanked the older agent, shaking his hand and murmuring goodbyes as they left the cafe – Aaron heading back to Ashley, at the request of both the twelve year old and Reid, who headed back to the hospital to his wife.

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**Thanks for reading , sorry if it's not the outcome people wanted :S I know that people wanted him to resign etc**

**Hope you enjoyed it :-)**

**Let me know what you think ? Thanks**


	16. Epilogue

**Thanks for the reads , reviews , alerts and favourites :D**

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_**Four Months Later**_

Dr Reid was starting work again tomorrow. As much as he missed his job, he was far from eager to go back; he didn't miss it as much as he assumed he would or should have. It wasn't because he didn't want to go back to the team because he did, but he'd been happy with just the small and seemingly insignificant moments in life that were everything to him because he usually missed them – watching movies with his wife and daughter, taking Ashley and picking her up from school, taking them out to fairs or shopping. But he knew he'd have to go back and face it someday, Fliss had told him that yesterday once she recognised the look of reluctance on his face when he realised what Monday held – being the mind reader she is knew instantly what he was worried about. Today was his last day of lying in, tucking his daughter into bed and reading her a bedtime story every night – today was the last day of his predictable lifestyle and tomorrow he would revert back to sitting around a round table, discussing the worst of humanity and putting his life in danger. This time, he'd be full of worry that someone would find and hurt his two girls; the image of his wife dead on that cold, hard floor haunting him once again.

"Spence, it's still," Felicity paused and checked her husband's watch, "fourteen hours before you've gotta go to work, please stop thinking about it." Kissing his right temple, she continued to trail kisses down his face to his neck before he lifted her and placed her on his lap so she was straddling him.

"I love you." The genius told her in-between kisses.

"Ditto." She smiled, moving impossibly closer to him. The two had found out last week that she was eight weeks pregnant and it had slightly amused the younger man as just the week before he'd joked that he intended to get her pregnant again; she'd told him she'd kill him if he did. In actual fact she had been happy about it, despite assuming he'd done it purposely, of course he'd told her that that was impossible.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

"Do you promise you'll look after daddy when he goes back to work?" Ashley asked Aaron later that day as the whole team and their families met at his house to spend quality time together – Felicity's idea. One that they'd been doing during the four month period of Reid's absence. She'd reasoned that they all needed it and it was important to regain Spencer's trust and that wasn't going to happen by giving him space. So, whenever the team weren't away, they organised barbeques or days / nights out, anything just to spend some time together. Turned out, Spencer rather liked the idea, finding it funny that they were that eager to have him back – he'd even joked that it must be very dull without him. A very serious 'yes' was the answer.

"Yeah, Ash, I promise." The BAU leader replied, kissing her forehead lightly. Even now he felt guilty whenever he thought about the man in question, though everyone had told him not to. Sometimes, it kept him awake at night and sometimes the scene from the basement ran through his head preventing him from a sleep he desperately needed. It was always the same and always led to the same question; what if Felicity had died that day? Occasionally, he called the woman just to check that she was in fact very much alive. She'd just know why he was calling, just like the first time, and they'd spend a long while just talking about anything and everything – the weather, his job, how Spencer was to their children. They'd grown close during the months they'd known each other, so much so that she'd become like a daughter to him. Aaron was fond of Ashley and she got on extremely well with Jack and Henry, despite the age difference. It was lovely to see and he'd never ask for anything better. His whole family (minus his brother Shaun) was here and he loved it.

"Dad said you would and so did mum, but I wanted you to confirm it." The twelve year old stated matter-of-factly to the man.

- . - . - . - . - . - . - .

"You're a bigger cheat than he is." Morgan declared to Fliss whilst motioning to her husband. They'd been playing poker for the past thirty minutes whilst the children, including Ashley, were napping.

"I'm from Vegas. I gamble a lot, and I win a lot – maybe you should know better by now." The woman smiled deviously as the next hand was dealt.

"She's almost better than I am and that takes some doing." Reid told them, grinning at the disbelieving look on his wife's face.

"Ohh he's in trouble now." Prentiss laughed with the team agreeing with her.

"It's true." He defended. "And anyway, I'll make it up to her later." His friends caught on to the very heavily implied reference and groaned – it was something he did a lot when it came to his wife and him.

"What makes you think you'll be so lucky?" Fliss asked a smile all the while on her face.

"We have a game to play." Rossi reminded them before the younger man had time to reply. Never in his life had he been so content as he was when he had his family around him. It made it difficult to leave on cases sometimes – the case in Las Vegas still haunted him and kept him up at night. He doubted it'd ever go away, but he was beyond thankful that he'd – and the team – been forgiven for his sin, his mistake.

Over the course of the four months the BAU had been missing the resident genius, they'd done anything and everything possible to befriend him again and build his trust. JJ was the first to be given the all clear as she'd been forgiven instantly, having never lost the trust of her surrogate brother. Next had been Garcia knowing that she couldn't possible have suspected him knowing that all she could do was what she was told and she wouldn't have been told that the team thought he was a serial killer. Morgan was after along with Prentiss as they were his surrogate brother and her his sounding board; the one he went to when he needed to talk to someone. Rossi had been last. To this Reid had no idea why, but he was. Eventually he'd come to the assumption that it was because he hadn't known Rossi as long as he'd known the others. No longer did Spencer have hard feelings towards them, in fact he trusted them. They were and always would be his family and he was happy.

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**I know this chapter isn't great but I'm not good at tying up stories so this was the best I could do . Sorry :S**

**Erm , thanks for reading :-)**

**Let me know what you think ? Maybe ?**


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